Tas. 4206. 
IPOM/MA sImpPuex. 
Simple-stalked Ipomea. 
Nat. Ord. ConvoLvuLacE®.—PENTANDRIA MoNoGyNIA. 
Gen. Char. Calyx 5-sepalus. Corolla campanulata. Stamina inclusa. Stylus ? 
Stigma capitatum, seepius bilobum. Ovariwm biloculare, loculis dispermis. Cap- 
sula bilocularis. Choisy in DC. 
[pom simplex ; glabra, radice tuberosa, caule ad basin suffruticoso subramoso 
dein erectiusculo debili foliisque lineari-lanceolatis acuminatis subundulatis, 
pedunculis brevibus solitariis unifloris e parte inferiori caulis, sepalis ovato- 
lanceolatis apice acuminatis recurvis, corolla tubo superne sensim dilatato, 
limbo patente. 
Ipomma simplex. Thunb. Fl. Cap. ed. Schult. p.170. Spreng. Syst. Veget. v. 1. 
p. 607. 
When the rounded uncouth-looking tuber of this plant was 
presented to our Garden by the Earl of Derby, in 1844, brought 
home from the eastern Colonies of South Africa by Mr. Bender, 
we were not prepared for a cluster of such lovely flowers as ap- 
peared at the base of the stems in July 1845. It is one of the 
Ipomeas that is best worth cultivating, for it only needs a small 
pot, placed in a green-house, and no trellis or apparatus to support 
the stems, which, at most, do not exceed a foot in length, and 
are clothed with long slender almost grass-like leaves. It is how- 
ever difficult of increase. 2 
Every one, who has occasion to study the Cape plants, 1s aware 
of the extreme difficulty of determining the species. Imperfect 
as is Thunberg’s character of Jpomea simplex, “ foliis lanceolatis 
integris, floribus solitariis,” I was yet of opinion it was intended 
for this plant, especially on seeing the character followed by the 
observation, “ caulis filiformis, totus glaber, vix palmaris, and 
my idea was confirmed by having received specimens of the same : 
plant from Dr. Harvey and from Drége, marked I. simpler. The 
latter, indeed, adds a mark of doubt. The Z. simplex of Thun- 
berg we find, in the last volume of De Candolle’s Prodromus, 
(vol. ix. p. 357.) referred, (not without a note of interrogation) to 
JANUARY Ist, 1846, 
